Prepared 100 hardcore associates: Bhatkal tells police

Motihari, Aug 30, 2013 (PTI):

A "remorselees" Indian Mujahideen co-founderYasin Bhatkal has allegedly told police that he carried out bomb blasts to send a message, and that he readied around 100 hardcore associates who could do anything at his bidding.

"Bomb blast karta hu message dene ke liye (I carry out bomb blasts to send a message)," Bhatkal was quoted as saying by Motihari Superintendent of Police Vinay Kumar, who played a key role in the arrest of the two top IM operatives from the Indo-Nepal border and interrogated him.

Kumar told PTI that Bhatkal and his associate expressed no remorse for triggering blasts that killed a large number of people in different cities.

The SP had interrogated Bhatkal and Asadulla Akhtar alias Haddi at his office along with NIA officials for more than three hours before producing them in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court for transit remand yesterday.

The SP said that the two had talked about atrocities being committed on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, but denied any role in the Bodh Gaya serial blasts on July 7.

"Though he is denying, we feel his involvement in the Bodh Gaya explosions is on the higher side of probability," Kumar said, adding that further investigation could throw light on the matter.

Atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar was stated to be a potent reason behind Bodh Gaya blasts that had left two monks wounded, including one hailing from Myanmar, on July 7.

A search was launched for Bhatkal on the Indo-Nepal border for the past four days before his arrest and that of his associate from Nahar Chowk in Raxaul, about 225 km from here yesterday.

Sources involved in interrogation of the two said that Bhatkal accepted having expertise in making IEDs.

They quoted the terror mastermind as saying that he was among the founding members of the Indian Mujahideen and also a master recruiter.

Bhatkat told interrogators that he was living in Nepal for the past six months and had readied around 100 hardcore associates who could do anything at his direction.

Bhatkal told them that he used to frequently change residences in Nepal where he treated people as a Yunani doctor.

The sources revealed that Bhatkal got angry on some occasions during interrogation.The two IM operatives were given biryani to eat, they added. P